Pathology Trends
Pathology groups face a number of challenging pathology trends in the era of radical healthcare reform.
One of the primary trends is that like clinical laboratories, these businesses are carrying significant and potentially unsustainable levels of unreimbursed services. Although bad debt and uncompensated care in the healthcare industry are not new, they have been increasing at the same time that downward pressure is being applied to pathology reimbursement.
Medical laboratories and pathology groups are also facing enormous levels of change in their clinical, regulatory and financial environments. As the Affordable Care Act is implemented, laboratories see downward pressure on reimbursement at both the federal and payer level, coupled with increased emphasis on efficiency and quality.
Labs and health care providers need to seriously consider moving toward a retail business model. Changes in the health insurance market are now requiring patients to pay more out of pocket, and the perfect storm of bad debt and decreased requirement is pressuring laboratories.
Other pathology trends include:
- Growing emphasis on the continuum of care
- Increasing patient interaction directly with the lab organization
- Mounting demands of interoperability across a proliferation of disparate information technology systems to achieve meaningful use
- Evolving requirements for communication and data sharing with payers, accountable care organizations (ACOs), health information exchanges (HIEs) and other trading partners
Industry observers say that responding to each of these trends requires access to the most complete set of patient data possible. Accurate patient identification and record consolidation is central to achieving these goals.
In addition, labs and pathologists are increasingly urged to add value to the testing services they perform by leveraging information technology. For instance, advanced health information technology can be deployed within clinical labs and pathology groups specifically to meet changing patient expectations, while supporting the needs of client physicians for optimal workflow.
Pathology Compensation in Different Settings, including Hospitals
CEO SUMMARY: This second installment on the series about boosting pathologist compensation uses data collected during a survey of 1,400 pathologists in 230 pathology practices by the Panel of National Pathology Leaders (PNPL). Two experienced pathology consultants identify the most effect…
Pathologist Frederick Kiechle, MD, Molecular Pioneer, Dies at 78
Clinical pathology lost one of its greatest practitioners when pathologist Frederick L. Kiechle, MD, PhD, FCAP, of Cooper City, Fla., died on July 30, 2024, at the age of 78. …
Proven Ways to Improve Pathologist Productivity and Compensation
CEO SUMMARY: There is now extensive data from 1,400 pathologists serving in 230 pathology groups that show certain clinical and business strategies can lift a group’s collected revenue and increase the total annual compensation of the group’s pathologists. This is the first of a serie…
Fitting Pathology AI Firms into DP Market Puzzle
CEO SUMMARY: Today, the best-known developers of AI-based algorithms have been in business almost 10 years. During that time, there has been continuous improvement in the digital technologies used in digital scanning and digital image analysis. Despite these improvements, many pathology g…
Pioneering DP Companies Ended Up Being Acquired
CEO SUMMARY: One reason why the adoption of a full digital pathology solution has lagged behind expectations may be attributed to the fact that four of the pioneering companies did not survive as independent businesses. They were sold and not all the new owners continued investing and dev…
Why Many Pathologists Are Cautious about Digital Path
CEO SUMMARY: In many major academic centers and the nation’s largest regional pathology supergroups, use of whole slide images and digital pathology workflow are accepted and established. This is often because of benefits unsupported by a pure return on investment. The clinical gains ou…
Examining the Worldwide Pathologist Shortage
CEO SUMMARY: Demand for pathology services is growing faster than the number of pathologists available to meet that demand. This is true for the United States and most other nations. Consequently, efforts are underway to more accurately measure the number of pathologists practicing in eac…
Forensic Pathologist Shortage Gets News Coverage
Pathologists are making headlines in several states, as well as nationally. But this time, the news is not about the shortage of surgical pathologists. Rather, it’s about the acute shortage of forensic pathologists. For example, ABC News reported last month that “Forensic pathologists…
Actions Pathologists Can Take to Protect Their Income
CEO SUMMARY: Pathology groups may feel their income is under attack from lower Medicare reimbursement rates and rising practice costs. But steps to protect that income can include carefully determin…
Digital Pathology Business Plan for Both Clinical and ROI Success
CEO SUMMARY: More pathology groups are ready to consider adopting whole-slide imaging and digital pathology. The decision to proceed should only be made after identifying the clinica…
CURRENT ISSUE
Volume XXXII, No. 1 – January 6, 2025
The Dark Report examines how AI is being used to predict the outcomes of FDA LDT lawsuits. Also, this issue is Part Two of a series about boosting pathology compensation in different settings, including hospitals. Two experienced pathology consultants identify the most effective approaches when negotiating Part A pathology agreements with hospitals and health systems, along with how to use data to bolster these negotiations.
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